A Conversation with Fundraise For Australia Advisor Nicola Britton.
Fundraise For Australia (F4A) is a national fellowship program that connects new & emerging fundraisers with the tools & opportunities that will help them supercharge their careers & deliver transformative change for their communities.
F4A is led by a dynamic group of experienced leaders in Australian philanthropy who represent the many facets of the profession, including fundraising, policy & advocacy, education, nonprofit tech and executive recruitment. One of the group's advisors is Nicola Britton, Director, Australia for GoFundMe.
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. GoFundMe is essentially creating the giving layer of the internet: a space where individuals, teams, organisations, and nonprofits can champion causes that matter and raise money to make a lasting difference.
We spoke with Nicola about why she joined the F4A Advisory Board and what change she hopes to see across the fundraising landscape.
“One of the challenges that F4A is trying to tackle is that the demand for fundraisers continues to outstrip supply, yet every day at GoFundMe we see community champions take the charge to close funding gaps in their communities.
“The community fundraisers we work with have a huge impact on their communities. They're an untapped source of professional fundraisers. What's more, they're experts on the issues that matter to them and those they aim to represent” Ms Britton said.
Many professions require formal training to begin work but the community momentum on GoFundMe in the past five years shows that fundraising is an industry where passionate leadership is key and the rest - code, compliance and tech skills - can be taught.
“Helping more of these community leaders upskill will significantly help work towards Australia's ambition to double philanthropic giving by 2030.
“We have seen the fallout of some of the country's biggest challenges reflected on GoFundMe in recent years from bushfires, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recently, fatal flooding. Each and every one of these issues is unique to their community and has been represented with rapid, tangible community action.” Ms Britton said.
Through GoFundMe, people and organisations have the tools they need to share their cause far and wide and harness the power of generosity, something F4A hopes to translate into professional pathways in what is a rapidly growing industry.
For more information and to further develop the skills exemplified by the most successful fundraisers on the GoFundMe platform, we encourage you to visit our website - www.fundraiseforaustralia.com
